Review of The Timeseer’s Gambit by Kate McIntyre

The Timeseer’s Gambit is the sequel to fantasy mystery novel, The Deathsniffer’s Assistant. While there is a separate mystery, I highly suggest reading the books in order since there are some ongoing plot threads and character arcs.

Three months after Christopher Buckley started working for the eccentric detective Olivia Faraday, they’ve got a new case. Across the city, young priests have died in apparent accidents, yet there appears to be a connection. If that weren’t enough, Dr. Livingstone is about to go to trial, and it looks like he’ll be convicted, even though Chris is sure he’s innocent. And on top of everything else, he still hasn’t figured out what’s going on with those mysterious powers he displayed at the end of the last book? Oh, and his apparent past connection to the alluring William Cartwright.

The Timeseer’s Gambit‘s major strength is it’s characters. While the mystery was twisty enough to keep me on my toes, the characters are what made this book such a delight. Chris and Olivia are my main stand outs, but I like the rest of the supporting cast as well. Olivia is just so gloriously weird! Not the quirky in a cute way, but genuinely strange. She can be standoffish and rude, but you can see her start to care about the people closest to her. Her growing friendship with Chris is one of my favorite parts of the book.

Speaking of Chris, I have to keep reminding myself how young he is. The Deathsniffer’s Assistant takes place just after he got his categorization, which apparently happens when you’re eighteen. This explains so much. In my review of The Deathsniffer’s Assistant, I discussed the possibility that Chris might be bisexual. There’s no longer any doubt. Chris is bi. He spends a lot of time lying to himself about it, but he does finally admit that he’s attracted to Will as well as Rachel, even if he’s got a ways to go before he accepts himself for who he is and for not being who society says he should be.

A major ongoing plot thread of The Timeseer’s Gambit involves the political situation and the Dr. Livingstone trial. I actually think it would have been benificial for me to reread the first book beforehand, but I was able to remember enough to figure out what was going on. I have a strong feeling that this will be an ongoing series thread, which is great by me since I prefer my stories tightly connected rather than more episodic.

Anyway, The Timeseer’s Gambit was a lot of fun, and I’m really loving this series. I actually think it deserves far more attention than it currently has, so I would encourage you to check it out.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.